Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

Great little appreciative write-up of the book: “When I saw Gimme Something Better (Penguin), on the bookshelf, I was thrilled. It was a dream come true, an oral history of the San Francisco punk rock scene. It was the closest I would ever have to being able to understand what it was like to actually be there.”

TDOA: In the book, you indicate that the punk scene in SF is still vibrant. What bands should people outside of San Francisco be listening to?

JACK: I have no idea. It’s up to them. Go fucking check it out!

SILKE: Who the fuck am I to tell you what to listen to? Call 510-BAD-SMUT. Visit the List. Dig. Research. Listen. Punk rock should not be spoon fed. Discovery is always half the fun. Someone in our book talks about finding a mixed tape on the ground when they were a kid. It was like a treasure map to a foreign land. I wish that experience for everyone.

Here’s a story about our SF Library event, words and photos by Becky Wilson: “Dan Afflicted knocked the power, lights and P.A. out for the event so the reading became a punk rock accapella event!” Thanks Ginger!

Listen to this crazy and unhinged radio show about the book, with guests Penelope Houston (Avengers), Blag Dahlia (Dwarves), Spike Slawson (Swingin’ Utters, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes), and Walter Glaser (MRR & Gilman). Includes lots of music, and at least one imitation of Jello Biafra!

Here’s another podcast from Green 960 progressive radio, with host and award-winning journalist Peter Laufer, who was going to have us on for an hour, but it was the very next morning after our Gilman show, and we had the wrong address and were waiting in front of a building two blocks away, wondering why nobody was answering the buzzer, until finally we were able to email him and apologize and get to the right studio, and he thought we were hung over but we weren’t….anyway, it turned out to be a good interview.

This was one of our more hilarious interviews, on San Francisco’s ultimate punk radio station, KUSF-FM. DJ Jet showed up hung over enough to be legally drunk, clutching an empty Mason jar. She still has no idea what it was doing in her bed! With music from Dead Kennedys, Neurosis, and more. Click the third hour to hear it all.

Blurbs

“When punk broke in the Bay Area, with the clamor and the rage, the sex and the safety pins, the sound and the fury, you were either there or you weren't. If you were there you're probably in this book. If you weren't you should read it.”—Daniel Handler, author of Adverbs